I have a love hate relationship with my gloves. I love them because I hate tabs, but I hate them because I hate the string memory they hold.
Do any of you guys modify your 'fingers' so they work better?
I read in Byron Fergusons book about how he puts that dense stamp foam in the fingers to comfortably hold more weight. I have done that and liked it best so far. It also seemed to really help them to not develop the 'string groove'.
I have also heard of using baleen or bone strips. I wonder if that would do a good job of eliminating the string groove/bulge and give you a more crisp release like a tab?
What do you do, what have you tried, and what do you like?
I don't have an answer for you but I as well am very curious. When I practice for a few days straight I shoot about 150 or so arrows and my fingers get blisters on them still. Have a deer hide glove from 3rivers but the answer to this sure would help with my problems.
The tips of my fingers go numb and stay that way a long time even with a thickish glove.
It seems to me that after a bunch of shooting or a really worn in glove with a heavy string groove it is hard for me not to pluck the string. It feels like it is starting to go but is hanging onto the finger stall longer. The exact opposite of a tab (which feels to me like a hair trigger).
When I reinforced my old shooting gloves pinch finger, it forced my arrow to fly right for some weird reason. I had noticed that as my glove wore out, my shots started drifting consistently left. The reinforcing brought it back right but too far.......really strange that such a small thing would affect my shooting that much.
I also cut the ends off any closed ended glove. I hate losing that dexterity. On my latest Black Widow glove I cut off about 3/4" of my pointer finger. When I shoot split there is almost no pressure on it anyway so I figured I'd try. I would recommend it. Then you have your pointer finger and thumb to still do fine tasks with.
As an aside, I have always wondered why some tabs have a metal body?
Warchild unless you're left handed, I had just the opposite happen when I reinforced a glove. The arrow hit far left. I probably shoot the best with an American Leathers glove but I pluck the string quite often because the string is so deep into my fingers. With the heaviest Bateman glove, I feel I always get a good release but one out four arrows will go far left and I don't have a clue why. Very frustrating. I'm very interested in the answers you get Snowplow.
Bad releasers of the world unite!
(http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac194/stiknstringer/bowhunting/shootingglove.jpg) (http://s899.photobucket.com/user/stiknstringer/media/bowhunting/shootingglove.jpg.html)
I also cut the closed tips off mine which gets my arrow under my eye.
When I shoot a lot...I mean like at an archery event,or just a full day of off/on shooting I tape my release hand finger tips with 1 inch wide masking tape then put my glove on. Works great. rat'
Howard Hill Deluxe and Bateman STGC come with stiffeners in the stalls. I shoot a Bateman daily...doesn't take but a light groove and is heavy cordovan.....slick release and the glove is built like a tank.
I like the hill deluxe glove. Really heavy leather and nylon inserts reinforce the stalls. They last forever.
I mostly have bows in the 60 to 65# range with FF strings and shoot S/F. I use a cordovan finger tips SUPER GLOVE from Alaska Bowhunting. The cordovan is thick, slick, and supple which gives me a good release w/o ever hurting my fingers like my other gloves do. I do not think you could wear out the cordovan, to bad it is not the same for the rest of the glove.
I had a sore cut finger a couple of times and discoverd a trimmed plastic tube from a fired 12 ga. shotgun shell fit over the finger and protected it.
When I shot with a glove, this piece of a shell pulled off my finger and stayed in the stall of the glove. I left it there for quite a while, until my finger was healed.
I have since switched to a tab, but that did work well to spread the string pressure, it was real cheap, and was completely reversible.
I use a Bearpaw deerskin glove with cordovan fingertips. I used this glove intensively last halve year and it has none of the issues you describe.
In fact, it is the best glove I ever used.
Kustom King sells them for about $30,-.
When I shoot a lot (i.e. 100s arrows a day with a heavy bow) I often make finger stalls out of old one gallon milk jugs. I cut them to fit my finger, heat and shape them with the wife's blow drier (might be wist to get permission first)and then insert them in my finger stalls. Helps protect the fingers and gives a pretty good release (you will lose a little feel but the plastic is thin enough to still give you some string feel). I do this because I really prefer a very thin glove and most days I only shoot 20-30 arrows and don't need the added protection.
I highly recommend the Saunders PakTab. It was suggested to me several years ago, and I've used nothing else since. You can make it as thick or thin as you want, and I feel that I get the best release I've ever had. No more numb fingers, which can't be good.
Murray
I think I would address the nock fit before I did any thing else, although it seems you've gotten a lot of very good advice. I could hear the nocks snap on, and when I can hear something, it's pretty loud. Also, you might try the Saunders Pak-Tab, which you can build up yourself, with optional layers of different materials, to achieve the feel you want. Since I tried one several years ago, I've used nothing else, and numb fingers are a thing of the past, which can only be a good thing.
Murray
I'm using an American Leathers elk skin glove right now and I like it very much. I think it holds it's shape pretty good.
I build my own gloves. I was fed up with the commercial stuff. My last glove lasted almost 7+ years. Here is a tutorial in german, but I may do an english .pdf version if requested.
http://www.free-archers.de/forum/index.php?topic=33148.0
The glove is armored with stainless steel sheet metal tabs between the glove body and overlays. They stay there permanently.
Glove body leather is kangaroo and overlays are shell cordovan. The pictures are pretty self-explaining.